The maritime history of the Minnesota River has been a subject of interest for Minnesotans since the mid-19th Century, when in 1882 the Edward D. Neil and Charles S. Bryant published their volume, History of the Minnesota Valley. This book amounted to more of a genealogical work than a study of riverine travel or use, but it does provide a brief overview of the communities along the river. By 1905, Thomas Hughes took on the task of investigating the "History of Steamboating on the Minnesota River" and his use of the City of St. Paul's wharfmaster's records provides a synopsis of several decades of steamer use on the Minnesota River. Part of Maritime Heritage Minnesotaâs (MHM) mission is to study and interpret Minnesota's maritime history and nautical/maritime archaeological sites through the survey of the State's rivers and lakes. In the following pages are the results of MHM's historical investigation into the Minnesota River's maritime past as well as the findings of the Minnesota River Survey 1 (MRS-1), a side and down-imaging sonar survey of a portion of the river that took place in mid-November 2011. This survey and report were made possible by a grant from the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Grants program, part of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by the People of Minnesota in 2008. This report is copyrighted to Ann Merriman, Christopher Olson, and Maritime Heritage Minnesota. It can be downloaded free of charge but it cannot be sold for profit by a third party, uploaded to another site, or changed in any way.

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